Election Bio-Terror

Title: Doctors Play Out Bioterrorism ScenarioDate: February 21, 1999Source:SFSU

Abstract: Terrorists
contaminate an auditorium with silent, odorless smallpox just before a
political rally. Soon, emergency rooms see mysterious illnesses. By the time
doctors diagnose smallpox, coughing patients are spreading the lethal virus
around the globe.

This time it was a test-run.

Doctors, hospital workers and
U.S. health leaders used that fictional scenario, set in Baltimore, to test how
they would control disease if bioterrorists ever attack - debating step by step
how to quarantine, shut down airports, control panic when vaccine runs out.

How did the trial run go?

"We blew it," said a
grim Michael Ascher, California's viral disease chief.If an attack really had happened, it would
have taken just three months for 15,000 Americans to catch smallpox, 4,500 to
die and 14 countries to be re-infected with a disease thought wiped out decades
ago.

"We would be irresponsible if
we left this room and didn't remedy this," said Jerome Hauer, New York City's
emergency management director.

How can doctors prepare? The
test-run offers clues.

The Fictional Scenario Begins:

April 1. The
FBI gets a tip terrorists might release smallpox during the vice president's speech
at a Baltimore college. The tip is too vague to warn health officials. Smallpox
incubates for two weeks so no one has yet become sick.

April 12. A
college student and electrician come to the emergency room with fever and other
flu-like symptoms. Doctors suspect mild illness, maybe flu, and send them home.

April 13, 10 a.m. Both patients are back, sicker and covered in a rash. Doctors now
suspect adult chickenpox. The two are hospitalized. 6 p.m. An infectious
disease specialist is puzzled. That rash doesn't really look like
chickenpox, and it's popping up in places chickenpox normally doesn't afflict,
like the soles of the feet. More testing suggests it might be smallpox.

8 p.m.
Because smallpox is spread through the air, officials seal the hospital,
telling visitors and staff they can't leave but not why. Frightened hospital
visitors alert TV news crews, who report rumors of the dreaded Ebola virus.

3 a.m. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention confirms it's smallpox, and ships some of the nation's 6
million doses of smallpox vaccine to Baltimore. The mayor will announce the bad
news at noon.

Is this scenario realistic? It's
optimistic, said Gregory Moran of the University of California, Los Angeles. A typical
hospital would take at least another full day to even suspect smallpox. Labs
would test for other diseases first, andmany don't have the equipment to hazard
a smallpox guess.

"Half of the health care
workers would try to leave the hospital out of panic," added Minnesota state
epidemiologist Michael Osterholm.

Who's in charge? The governor
should go on TV and tell the public the truth fast - what are the symptoms, who's
at risk, how are doctors fighting back - to limit panic, advised former
Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson.

But a smallpox outbreak can only be terrorism, so watch
Washington seize control, others say.
After all,
the FBI has to hunt the terrorists.

Sealing the hospital actually
fuels fear, Osterholm contends. Getting vaccinated a few days after breathing
smallpox is soon enough to stay healthy and not spread infection, so let
visitors and staff go home until the vaccine arrives.

Noon. The president addresses the
nation, saying the attack may have occurred April 1. It's too late for vaccine
to help anyone exposed that day.

No wonder the fictional epidemic is spreading - notice
that nobody closed the airport.
John Bartlett of Johns Hopkins University can't believe that other cities would
accept travelers from a region experiencing smallpox.

"Doctors need to know what
to do," added Moran: Hospitalize everyone with mild fevers, or send them home?

Hospitalization would require
rooms with special ventilation systems to keep the virus from spreading through
the building. Such rooms are rare, 450 in all of Minnesota, for example.

Back to the pretend scenario:

April 18. The
first victim, the college student, dies.

April 29. Two hundred are ill in
eight states. Canada discovers two victims, Britain another. People with mild
fevers jam hospitals. Doctors tell them to stay home so they don't breathe on others
- there are no hospital beds left.
Unvaccinated health workers walk off the job. CDC announces there's not enough
vaccine for the millions demandingit. Governors ration the shots. Public anger is fueled at press reports that
the president, Congress and military were quietly vaccinated.

April 30. A well-known college
basketball player dies of hemorrhagic smallpox, massive bleeding instead of the
more typical rash. TV stations get confused and report he died of hemorrhagic fever
like Ebola. Doctors scramble for a correction.

This daylong role-playing is
doctors' first chance to learn how complex fighting bioterrorism could be, said
Hopkins' Tara O'Toole, who wrote the test case. Cities and states are used to
dealing with earthquakes or plane crashes, but a spreading infection is totally
different.

Who's in charge? How do you physically
vaccinate 100,000 people in a day? How do you ration scarce vaccine so only the
at-risk get it, not the hysterical healthy or the pushy politicians?

"If there's even a possibility
this could happen, health departments have to prepare. ... But they've never looked
at the big picture," O'Toole said. "You're hearing everybody confess
they need to do a lot."

In the fictional scenario, a
month has passed:

May 15. All U.S. vaccine is gone.
The president declares the worst-hit states are disaster areas. Thousands more
become sick before the epidemic finally slows in June.

The real-life doctors absorb the
grim ending with brief silence. Then come calls for state health workers to plan
how they would better fight bioterrorism in case it really happened.

"I don't want
the audience walking away thinking, 'Damn, there's nothing we can do,'"
Osterholm said. "If this meeting does nothing else, it should ensure we get
an adequate supply of smallpox vaccine (stored) as soon as possible." (SFSU, 1999).

Not surprisingly,
health officials also want to know about clusters or patterns of death or
illnesses.

That would include
two or more patients with unexplained flulike illness, pneumonia, adult
respiratory distress syndrome, sepsis, or neurologic, gastrointestinal or
dermatological disease.

"We are also
asking that providers report whether or not a patient is visiting for the RNC
or has attended any RNC events," the Health Department's request says.
"We understand that this information would not normally be collected, but
it would be especially useful for us during this period."

Esquire's Tampa Bay
Area Recommendations
In its September issue, Esquire offers these RNC
recommendations: "The Refinery, for the John Denver breakfast. • El
Puerto, for the steak sandwich. • For dinner: Remember that it's Cooters, not
Hooters. • Mons Venus, if you have a little free time."

Last RNC Town Hall
Scheduled Tonight
It will be from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Kate Jackson Community Center, 821 S Rome
Ave. Information on road closings, traffic, downtown parking, garbage pickup,
security plans, school bus routes and Hillsborough Area Regional Transit
Authority bus and trolley service. Plus Q&A.

Curtis Hixon Park
will be closed until Sept. 4
The convention this week took over Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park so a private
contractor could build a "popup" nightclub.

The good news: It's
an impressive structure, and it's going up fast. For a look from above, check
out the Tampa Downtown Partnership's Facebook page.

The bad news: The
park — including Curtis Hixon's section of the Riverwalk, its dog park, the
playground and the kid's fountain near Ashley Drive — will be closed for nearly
three more weeks.

Jamestown
Entertainment of Washington, D.C., is partnering with the Butter Group of New
York to create a Tampa version of the 1 OAK nightclubs found in Manhattan and
at the Mirage Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

The private club is
expected to have room for 2,000 partygoers in a 30,000-square-foot,
air-conditioned temporary facility, complete with its own concert space, plus
cigar, scotch and video game lounges.

As part of its
agreement with the Tampa Bay Host Committee, the city agreed to make Curtis
Hixon and several other parks available for the convention's exclusive use.

Curtis Hixon is
expected to reopen to the public on Sept. 4.

And if some lovers of
the park grouse in the meantime?

"Just bear with
us," Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said. "As we have said from Day 1,
there will be some inconveniences and we all have to understand that, given the
magnitude of what we're attempting to do."

Tampa City Hall to
set up RNC info call center
City Hall is setting up a call center to provide information about street closures,
parking, directions and hospitality information during the Republican National
Convention.
The toll-free RNC call center number is (866) 762-8687 .

The call center will
start taking calls at 8 a.m. Monday and will stop at noon Aug. 31. It will be
staffed 24 hours a day during that time, with someone who speaks Spanish
available.

For online
information about the convention, road closures, detours and city services,
visit tampagov.net/RNC. City officials also encourage residents to sign up for
the Alert Tampa messaging service to their email, mobile device or landline
telephone. To sign up, go to tampagov.net/AlertTampa or call (813) 231-6184 (Tampa Bay Times, 2012).

Title: Tampa
Health Officials Preparing For Bioattacks At Republican ConventionDate: August 20, 2012Source:BioPrepWatchAbstract: Epidemiologists
with the Hillsborough County Health Department are requesting that health care
providers in Tampa, Florida, quickly report diseases to public health officials
before, during and after the Republican National Convention.

Public health
officials expressed a desire to hear immediately from health care workers who
see patients with food-related illnesses, bloody diarrhea, unusual rash or any
unexplained severe illnesses. The officials also want to hear of any suspected
illness from possible bioterrorism, including plague, brucellosis, botulism,
anthrax or viral hemorrhagic fevers, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

“We are also asking
that providers report whether or not a patient is visiting for the RNC or has
attended any RNC events,” the request from the department said, according to
the Tampa Bay Times. “We understand that this information would not normally be collected,
but it would be especially useful for us during this period.”

Health officials also
want to hear about two or more patients with unexplained adult respiratory
distress syndrome, pneumonia, flu-like illness, sepsis, neurologic disease,
dermatological disease or gastrointestinal disease, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

The convention will
be held between August 27 and August 30 in Tampa. The officials want health
care workers to be on the alert until at least September 6 (BioPrepWatch, 2012).

Abstract: Federal authorities
are urging law enforcement agencies across the country to watch out for signs
that extremists might be planning to wreak havoc at the upcoming political
conventions -- by blocking roads, shutting down transit systems and even
employing what were described as acid-filled eggs.

The warning came in a
joint FBI-Department of Homeland Security bulletin issued Wednesday.

The bulletin
specifically warned about a group of anarchists from New York City who could be
planning to travel to the convention sites to disrupt the events by blockading
bridges.

Anarchists "see
both parties as the problem," so both conventions are prime targets for
them, a federal law enforcement official told Fox News.

The Republican
National Convention is set to open Monday in Tampa, Fla., and the Democratic
National Convention gets underway a week later in Charlotte, N.C.

The joint bulletin,
titled "Potential For Violent or Criminal Action By Anarchist Extremists
During The 2012 National Political Conventions," says anarchist extremists
likely don't have the capability to overcome heightened security measures set
up by the conventions themselves. In addition, Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor
said Tuesday that fences have been established around "some of the more attractive
government targets."

Instead, extremists
could target nearby infrastructure, including businesses and transit systems,
according to Wednesday's bulletin.

The bulletin mentions
possible violent tactics anarchist extremists could employ, including the use
of molotov cocktails or acid-filled eggs.

In August 2008,
federal authorities arrested a man who was planning to use a molotov cocktail
during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. In addition,
authorities executed four search warrants and arrested eight others for
planning to disrupt the convention, according to a 2010 FBI intelligence
assessment posted online.

On Tuesday, Tampa
police confiscated bricks and pipes found on a rooftop several blocks away from
the site of the Republican convention. Graffiti associated with the anarchist
movement was also found. Castor called the discovery "disconcerting but
... not surprising."

The bulletin issued
Wednesday notes that in 2008, anarchists discussed trying to shut down roads
and skyways in St. Paul.

In addition, the
bulletin discusses anarchists' use of social media to inform each other of law
enforcement actions and positions.

Even though activists
associated with the Occupy Wall Street movement are planning to converge on
both conventions to protest what one OWS group called "this political
system that only works for the 1%," the bulletin issued Wednesday makes no
mention of Occupy Wall Street -- focusing instead on "extremist"
activities.

"We have said
all along that the vast majority of individuals coming to the Tampa Bay area to
demonstrate will do so peacefully but there is no doubt that there is a small
percentage that will come bent on destruction and disruption, and those are the
individuals that we will deal with very quickly," Castor told reporters
Tuesday.

The conventions have
each been designated a "National Special Security Event" by the U.S.
Secret Service, which by law leads operational security plans for such events
in coordination with federal, state and local law enforcement.

The Tampa Police
department has been asking fellow officers from across the state to help
provide security for the convention. Those officers would be paid from $50
million Congress has given both Tampa and Charlotte to offset security costs
associated with hosting a convention.

The FBI has long
warned of potential dangers posed by "anarchist extremism,"
particularly during global summits and big events hosted in the United States.

The federal law
enforcement official told Fox News there is "no credible threat" tied
to international terrorism, but there is always concern that big events such as
the political conventions are "attractive targets" (Fox News, 2012).